For as long as mankind has had occasion to carry items he has sought handles as a means of easing this task, and/or to provide an increased degree of safety in doing so. These handles have been of both permanent type, as on a coffee cup, or removeable as Rais U.S. Pat. No. 4,486,043 "Reuseable handle for plastic bottle", Doucette U.S. Pat. No. 3,682,352 "Detachable handle for beer can" or Newman U.S. Pat. No. 4,231,605 "carrier assembly for multiple containers".
In the evolution of blow molded plastic containers for soft drinks a carrying lip was molded into the neck to facilitate carrying. This is convenient for short distances, and one may carry two of the two liter capacity size, again for a short distance as carrying for more than a few minuts becomes uncomfortable even to the point of causing cramps in the fingers.